There are strict laws regarding the humane transportation of animals within the EU. Dogs must have their own individual cages with room for them to journey comfortably and safely. Public shelter transport consists of being thrown in the bag of a filthy van with nothing to prevent the spread of disease or violence.

Public shelter owners and operators have little to no veterinary training with no concern about the welfare of the dogs in their care. Dogs are frequently incorrectly anaesthetised, sometimes killing the animal with far too high a dose.

The (un?)fortunate dogs who somehow manage to survive days in this hellish environment are ‘euthanized’ if they are not claimed or adopted. Adoption is rare. There is no official monitoring of death – euthanized dogs, no regulations, only facades. The dogs are at the mercy of cruel administrators whose only concern is taking government money for each dog they feed and/or kill, often in a barbaric fashion.

This situation was made that much worse in 2013, as public shelters became permitted to euthanize 14 days post-capture, after an alleged attack on a child in a park from Bucharest by a pack of stray dogs, which resulted child death, unfortunately. Furthermore, the lack of real inspections and meaningful penalties for poor management means zero investment in their facilities; disease, starvation, and cannibalism are rife. Public shelters are spread all over the country and most of them are grotesque killing-houses that are a blight on Romania.

There is no justification for this kind of inhumane and medieval treatment of animals, all for the mistaken belief that this type of activity helps reduce the stray population.This awful practice simply does not work..

Only gentle and submissive dogs are easily captured, leaving the aggressive and feral dogs to reproduce. Additionally, trap, neuter, and return became illegal in Romania in 2016, so taking dogs from the streets only transfers their food supply over to puppies born after them. In other words, space some leave is simply taken by others. The kill method of stray dog control merely causes fear, suffering, and violent death for the poor animals who are unlucky enough to be caught.

Moreover, some independent charities who claim to provide a humane alternative to public shelters prefer to keep dogs in horrific conditions to gain pity and donations and in some cases, even enthusing hundreds of dogs annually while refusing to explain to the public their reasoning for taking the lives of these dogs. And that’s revolting!

The consequence of inaction is obvious: Thousands of dogs will continue living in misery.